The Campbell Academy Blog | Colin Campbell (49)

The state of the nation

Usually, and around this time of year, I write a little post about what dentistry looks like to me and what I can see for our future at our place up the road at The Campbell Clinic.

I don't have any mandate to write about the state of the nation and nor really any experience or qualification to be able to do so, but I do have the opportunity to speak to some extraordinary people in dentistry, both locally and globally, and I can bring that information together in my own mind and triangulate it.

For me, it's important to do this because it adds to what I believe is our PEST (political, environmental, social and technological) analysis that we constantly refine in the Clinic to see what direction we're taking and whether we're in the right place.

We talk about PEST analysis a lot, and so, in terms of UK dentistry, what's the story?

Well, it looks pretty simple.

There is no money for NHS dentistry, and there will be none.

It's possible we could get a little bit more funding, but we are never, ever going to get the funding to completely fix the system and bring it back to where it was.

I think we're all pretty clear about that,

I think we all appreciate that.

I think politicians appreciate that, I think the administrators appreciate that, and I believe that is where things will stay.

For that reason, we have to look to alternatives, and the UK will move towards a situation where people buy more dentistry than they bought before, probably in quite a considerable way.

They won't buy all of this dentistry from the UK, of course; they'll buy quite a lot of it from other countries places like Turkey and then other countries which will spin off Turkey and continue to do so, like Bulgaria or Romania or any other country where people think they can attract the lower end of the market in the United Kingdom.

This is a threat to the UK and dentistry in the UK, particularly to things like cosmetic dentistry (we don't do cosmetic, we do aesthetic) but also implant dentistry and some other aspects because people will shop online and be attracted by lower prices and higher temperatures and what seems to be the glamorous service that is offered.

But that is in conjunction with the growth of UK dentistry and the growth of private dentistry, which will continue to occur.

People will still want aligners.

People will still want more aesthetic dentistry.

People will still want dental implants.

People will still want orthodontics and fast Ortho as well.

And so, you can decide where you sit in this system and decide which area you want to fight in, but what seems clear is that we'll move to a greater private market, a section of which will be abroad and another section of which will be at the lower end in the United Kingdom.

But all markets are structured like a pyramid.

I always go back to the analogy of televisions.

You can get really cheap televisions now, or you can get really expensive ones, and people choose what they choose and buy what they buy.

There are features and benefits of expensive televisions that cheap televisions don't provide, so you can decide exactly how you would like to have it and which product you would like to buy, and that is the same for dentistry.

It will always be the same; it will never change.

So, you can pick your battles however you like for the next 5 to 10 years.

You can fight at the bottom end, trying to stop patients travelling to Turkey, trying to compete with the guy down the road and always pricing just a little bit lower.

The way you do that is to take less money yourself or to cut your costs. That's the only way that you can reduce your prices.

So, cutting your costs makes you a worse practice where the quality is less, and the patients accept that because they get it cheaper, but that is a shit place to work for your soul unless you can take the money at the other end to make you feel good.

The other battle is at the top end, which is about being the best you can be and giving the best service in the best environment.

Make no mistake, it is still a battle, and you have to be on it every single day.

It requires upskilling and training of both you and your team to be able to offer the best products at the best level and, therefore, charge the prices for what is premium.

The corporates (DSOs) will try this, but they will not be able to do it at scale.

And so I suggest that the best place to fight is at the top of the market instead of the bottom, and that's how UK dentistry is going.

Better to race to the top and finish second from the top than race to the bottom because you'll always lose to the corporates.